Smile
by YogaForever
Summary: “I love you, baby, so just smile.” And so Elise did. Human Sonic x Elise


_In dedication to Cooro, who asked me to write this for her._

"The words sworn

Between the two

On July Seventh

Were whispered in the dead of night

A long lifetime before...

...No matter how long

Heaven and Earth last,

They must meet their end someday,

This sad hope for love

Will be endless."

-Excerpt from "Jang-Han-Ga" by Baek Geo-I

**Smile. **

By

_Sweet Valentine Vampire _

* * *

"We've come very far." There was a beat of silence. "Haven't we?" She was whispering, standing there in the darkness, holding onto the one thing that would make all the bad things and everyone else's sorrow disappear. She held onto the flame of Solaris. The white flame made her pale skin appear paper white, and crystalline blue eyes waver.

He stood near her, contemplating her questions in the shuffling of his feet. Her face was beautiful, playing emotions he couldn't quite read as quickly as the flame danced around. He finally nodded, responding with a whisper that begged not to break the silence of this sacred place. "Yeah. I guess we have."

She grinned at that, wryly.

"You guess?" She questioned. She kept watching that flame, for it held a safeness that looking him in the eyes wouldn't afford her. All of the things she'd erase by blowing out this flame churned in her stomach and made her feel horribly ill. For fear of breaking down, she did not meet his eyes. She was afraid her tongue would betray her and she'd speak the selfish words it hurt to think.

And he shrugged.

"I've got no regrets." He stated it like it were the simplest thing in all the world. His voice wavered on 'regrets.' "We've really lived it up, y'know? What's there to regret, right?"

Her answer was simple: "We won't remember each other."

"Huh? What do you mean?" The confusion in his eyes was almost endearing in a childlike way. But there was a clear ring of alarm in his voice that kept her from smiling. Quickly, he smothered his surprise but she couldn't remove the sound of his voice from her mind.

She kept talking, to distract herself from her aching, heavy chest and said monotonously, "We're changing time, Sonic."

"I know that, Elise. So what?"

"So...if we change this past - to change the future to better it for everyone else - we'll have never met each other." She said this to his face, her face and voice akin to a martyred angel.

"No. That's not true. I met you at the festival, remember?" Sonic protested, crossing his arms obstinately. "I like the Soleanna festival and I've seen you all the other years I went - why wouldn't I be there again? I'll still meet you, Elise."

"But you wont." Elise half-shouted back. When he opened his mouth, she cut him off. "And you've made my argument for me - you just said you've gone for years, but you only met me this year because you were rescuing me! You only had to rescue me because that mad doctor, Robotnik, read some insane prophecy. Don't you understand? That prophecy that we're erasing _right now_ by blowing out this flame. Once this fire is gone, I won't possess the power to bring Solaris into being. I'll be useless to Robotnik, I won't -"

"I got it the first three times." Sonic snapped, suddenly dark and angry. He steeled himself against his frustration, not wanting to take it out on her.

He hated being wrong. He could feel the wonder and disbelief filling his eyes till they widened. Elise. They'd never meet? It seemed the most impossible thing. "But, we've gotta meet." Sonic's tone was much softer now, the anger gone as quickly as it'd come. He blinked, pushing the sadness away. Elise could've sworn his eyes glistened a moment.

But she convinced herself it was only the dim lighting, coupled by the soft glow of the flame. It played tricks on her mind, she told herself.

She was wrong.

Sonic stared into the fire, pondering all it meant to his life these last three weeks and five days. He'd only known Elise for barely a month. How could he feel so strongly for her?

_I can't actually_ love her _that fast, right? Doesn't love take time to grow?_ He pondered. _Well, if I really love her, I should do the best thing for her. I'll..._

"Right." Sonic blinked again, and his shimmering eyes became intangible jade walls. They shone from the light of his smile. "Well. Let's blow this sucker out."

"I'm not ready yet." Elise sputtered, pulling the flame away before he could blow it out. Sonic just stared, surprised.

"Why not?" He asked.

"Because." Elise took a deep breath to keep her voice from quaking. Still, it was weak. Unshed tears clogged her throat. "Well, I don't know actually. Just because."

"You've gotta know." He arched one 'brow. He touched her shoulder with a feather-light hand. "Why aren't you ready?"

"Isn't this at all hard for you?" Elise looked up into his face. Tears created a wall around her eyelashes and did not crumble down her cheeks, as if she could still disappoint her father by crying. "Do you really so easily let go. Then, let's let it all go!"

Violently, she threw the pedestal down and Sonic could only stare as a sudden horror squeezed his lungs and made him gasp. This fear kicked his heart into overdrive and he made a halfhearted attempt at reaching out for the pedestal. He flinched away when it careened against the brick floor and winced at the shrill ringing cry it made. He looked painfully toward the object, saw the flame still swaying, and was relieved the fall alone hadn't put the fire out.

_What were you thinking!?_ He almost-screamed at Elise but she never gave him the chance, burrowing herself into his dirt and sweat-stained shirt. He stood with his hands up and away from her, not knowing what to do. Then, she began to shake. His face softened and he put his arms around her.

She sobbed.

His eyes narrowed from the effort of not catching her contagious tears. His heart still pounded from the dread of the flame going out like that.

Elise, meanwhile, created her father's voice in her mind. He berated her for crying. After so many times of telling her not to - here she was. Crying. Sobbing. Depending on this stupid boy. How many times had she cried over him already? After more than seven, eight years of a stone-faced existence, he'd swooped in and released all of her pent-up tears in a few weeks.

It all enraged her. And after holding back for all these years, she unleashed a desperate scream that destroyed the sacred silence of the stone hall forever.

"Isn't this hard for you at all!?" Said Elise, looking into Sonic's eyes. She searched for the ghost of her father that had faded like mist in the morning. Sonic flinched at her wild stare and his surprise brought her back to reality. She continued: "Or-or...How can I be like you, Sonic? How do I learn - how to not care?"

She trembled, her hands fists in his shirt. He looked more so shocked, and hurt. But those words weren't completely meant for him, so she loosened her grip and said in a wretchedly broken voice, "Oh, God, do you see what you've done? Do you?"

"What've I done?" Sonic asked, voice hoarse.

"You've made me weak, Sonic!" She answered, pulling him close to her again. He tried to look away but she slapped her hand against his face and forced him to look forward at her. She wanted him to see her eyes when she stripped her soul like this. "You've made me weak and needy. But, somehow, you've made me stronger. Isn't that just the most ridiculous thing? How can you do both? But you do it. And you've made my life dangerous, and you've confused me. You've confused me more than anyone else I've ever known, Sonic. But. You finally gave me a chance to live a little bit. A taste of adventure - of life. You took me away from everything I rested on, everything I know is safe. You made me a girl again instead of a diplomat."

"Elise-"

"Don't. Don't speak." She pleaded, putting a hand on each side of his face. She stared into his eyes intensely. She didn't want to leave his eyes, she wished she could drown in them. "I was tired of living, you see. If I died, I was convinced it wouldn't matter. Not to me. It wouldn't matter one way or the other. I didn't have emotions, really, and everything felt false. I was so, so _tired_ of it. Tired of absolutely everything. I smiled for everyone, but I was just going through the motions. There was the tiniest bit of relief when I thought Robotnik was going to kill me on the day of the festival. I was terrified, but I thought _after this, I won't have to fake it anymore_."

Silence washed over them, Sonic not knowing what to say at first. All the dark stirring in her bright eyes lured his stomach into the twist until he felt sick. Finally, words came to him.

"If you were so sad, why didn't you say anything?" Sonic asked her, his face begging her to stop crying and pleading that she please be happy. "Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"Who could I have told? My mother died when I was too small to remember her well, and my father died chasing after power and a way to revive the dead. And do you know what my own father left me with?" She let out a nervous titter, and Sonic's frown deepened. "He gave me a mangled promise that my mother would live again if he put this Solaris monster in my body. And he _told me_ to never cry because that would screw up his plans. My own father, Sonic. He manipulated me like a pawn and do you know what he left me?" Elise sniffled, and coughed.

"Please stop." Sonic begged.

"No." Elise refused. "I need to finish. My father left me a shadow of a girl. Emotionless and buried by the demons of HIS past. Sonic, I've never lived my own life-"

"-Elise, just stop, pl-"

"-I was my father's vessel! And my people's princess. I love my people, but I was - am - too young to take the throne."

A rackety shudder spiraled through Elise. She stared up at Sonic. She watched him watch her. His emotions were open. The concern and empathetic pain in his eyes. His mouth was slightly open. He looked world-weary, with his hair mussed every which way. But, he looked pretty.

The girl smiled brokenly, sincerely.

"Then. I met you." She whispered and laughed lightly. He tried to smile, but failed. This made her chest tighten. And she ignored it by trailing a finger down his arm. "My Knight in Shining Armor, you could say."

"Replace 'Knight' with 'Adrenaline-Junkie' and 'Shining Armor' with 'Really Cool Sneakers' and we've got ourselves a deal, Elise." Sonic chuckled out, hoping to lighten the mood.

Elise did not laugh but the light in her eyes grew.

"For the first time, after meeting you, Sonic...I felt alive. Truly alive." Elise went on in a quiet, reflective tone. He smiled calmly at her now. His warm eyes brought her comfort. Momentarily, she wondered if she would ever hold him while he cried. Wondered if she'd ever know his darkest secrets - would he give them to her the way she gave him hers? She wondered why someone wrapping their arms around her never felt as good as his arms around her. It saddened her only slightly that the answer was "no" to all these musings. "Sonic. You showed me how much better life could be."

"You only think that now. I can be pretty boring, you know. Just give me a chance." He said jokingly, looking at her and hoping the majority of her tears had passed.

Elise laughed reservedly. Slowly, she took her gaze away from his and looked at the Solaris flame. Her smile faltered but did not diminish. Sonic raised his eyebrow quizzically.

"I never thought," said Elise, breaking out of Sonic's arms and taking three steps towards the flame. "That I would meet someone as special to me as you are Sonic."

The princess bent down and gathered the pedestal into her hands. She rose with the grace that years of etiquette lessons afford you.

"I never thought," she turned to look at Sonic, a new shade of blue dancing in her eyes and down her face. "That I, of all people, would fall...in love."

_Neither did I._ Sonic thought, eyes widened. Surprised by her whispered proclamation. He opened his mouth to speak his mind. But words fled like scared birds and left his mouth an empty cage.

"That's why I want to know how you can just stand there and not care." Elise told him. He clamped his mouth shut. Sonic's eyes narrowed into dangerously thin slits, defensive. Hurt. She did not relent for a moment. "How can you let go so easily? Because, you know what?"

A taunting, trembling silence shifted between them, daring either of them to move first. Sonic did. He stood up straighter, and hissed, "what?"

"I don't care if the world ends!" Confessed Elise, releasing that selfish thought she tried to keep under lock and key. "I don't care. I don't care, Sonic! I just don't. I want to spend the rest of my life - no matter how short - with you. I'd rather watch the world end with you, than stay this shallow princess watching her-"

"Elise!" Sonic took her roughly by the shoulders. "You've been blabbering for a while now, so it's my turn to talk, okay? And you can't interrupt me?" She nodded and he loosened his grip. He took a breath, gave a small grin and said: "Just smile."

"What?" She asked.

"Smile for me." Sonic requested, his eyes strange. They glistened. "Because that's all I need. Your happiness. That's how I'll be able to let you go. If you just smile and be happy."

When she didn't speak, he watched her in the quiet seriously. Tears formed an army in his eyes and he pulled his mouth in tight, fighting to keep them back. He spoke again to hush his urge to break down in her arms and cry.

"Your life will only be better after we blow this thing out. Think about it. Once this is gone, your dad will never make you a-a vessel. He'd still be alive, because he'd never have that accident, and he'd be King and you'd be his daughter and not a ruler. You'd have your own adventures with your friends, because you'd be a kid and not a diplomat. You'll be happy, Elise. You really will be. I know you will be."

"Really? Adventures with friends and everything?" Elise whispered, a childlike smile making her prettier. She giggled at the thought.

"Yeah," he nodded. "With friends and everything. You guys will go wild. You'll tear the place up. There won't be a field or town or nothing you won't have seen. And you'll find someone to make you happy. You'll fall in love, and it won't be me because we'll never meet and I know that...!" Sonic inhaled fast, saving himself from falling into the dark sand trap of sorrow. "And even if you want to spend the rest of your life with me, I don't want you to. Because the thought of you dying so young, with so many more adventures and friends and laughs in front of you...

"No." He said quietly, shaking his head because he didn't want to go on. "I can't bear the thought. I don't want you to _die with me_, Elise. I want you to live. I want you to live in a beautiful world, with a happy life, Elise. Where you can love your dad, and you can cry and have emotions. Where you can _smile_. And smile freely.

"So, don't make this harder. Let's blow this flame out. For you. And for me. Right now, right here. You said you love me and wanna know something? I love you too, baby, and this is the hardest thing in the world for me. So just smile."

And so Elise did.

"Now. Let's do it to it." And Sonic gazed down at the flame, Elise thinking he looked beautiful with the white illumination painting shadows on his face.

Elise said: "I'm ready."

She pulled her lips together, to blow out the flame and was shocked by the collision of Sonic's lips against her own.

He was kissing her. Light little butterfly kisses. Each one filled with passion and that end-of-the-world-now-or-never urgency that she'd come to expect of Sonic. What she loved of Sonic, all of him.

This is why she kissed him back. On his lips, and on his wet, salty cheeks. He didn't make a sound.

When they parted again, they watched each other for a long time. Elise could not convince herself Sonic's face only glimmered from the dim lighting.

Elise pulled the flame up to their faces and readied herself.

"Don't forget to make a wish." Sonic said in a light, grinning voice.

She never replied, too enraptured by the joy of his lips falling softly on her forehead as she blew away the lights and sent them spiraling into a cloak of darkness so thick that it exhausted her. She felt like lying down with him, to sleep their memories together away. It would all be a dream tomorrow morning.

Her breath on the flame was like hands sweeping carelessly across the past, cleansing history and wiping the slate clean. Making their love disappear.

Left alone in the darkness, standing in the hall, they held each other and spoke not a word. They both cried silently for what they would lose. Elise sincerely hoped her wish would come true.

_Please, let us meet again. And please, let us always smile. _

**The End.**


End file.
